They Add 2% in 1999; Toshiba Still No. 1; AirTouch Debuts at No. 2
With a few exceptions, there were no big gainers or losers on this year’s Business Journal foreign-owned companies list, ranked by OC employees. But overall, the 34 companies,whose ultimate parents are based in foreign countries,accounted for 23,595 OC jobs, a modest gain of 2% compared with their own year-ago numbers. That’s below the 3.4% countywide job growth reported by the state for 1999.
(The total employment of this year’s first 31 companies compared with last year’s 31-firm list shows an increase of 11%. But the list-to-list comparison is skewed somewhat by the addition this year of AirTouch Cellular at No. 2 with nearly 2,000 jobs.)
Most of the 15 companies that added to their workforces are in the electronics and specialty equipment industries. The largest gainer on the list was No. 9 MGE UPS Systems Inc., based in France, which added 218 local employees. MGE, a maker of uninterruptible power supplies, increased its production to keep up with new sales to Internet service providers.
Another big gainer was No. 23 CCI, up 100 employees.
“We’ve already had the best month we’ve ever had this year,” said Tony Allen, marketing director for CCI. The company,based in Birmingham, England, with North American headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita,is experiencing growth across the board, Allen said. CCI makes turbine-bypass systems used in power plants and operates four manufacturing plants. Some of its customers include Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and New York-based Kepco.
No. 22 Sage Software also posted a gain in employment, adding 76 people. Jean Tung-Navarro, corporate marketing manager, said Sage added both customer service and high-tech positions. It relocated 27 engineers from its Detroit office, which is now closed.
“We just felt like they should be here instead of commuting all the time,” Tung-Navarro said.
And it added more customer service people to support its new corporate strategy: “customer for life.” Sage, based in England, designs software and distributes through resellers.
The majority of OC operations on the list are owned by Asian companies, but some appear to have weathered the Asian flu. For instance, No. 13 Maruchan Inc., the noodle company based in Tokyo, added a new production line in OC and increased its employees here by 18%. Employment at No. 8 Yamaha was up 8%, while No. 11 Sony was up 6% and No. 27 Calsonic North America, a maker of air-conditioning components, was up by 14%.
Aerospace firms and automakers were among the 15 companies on the list that thinned their employee ranks. No. 3 Mitsubishi, No. 20 Mazda and No. 26 Hyundai Motor America all reduced their staffs for a combined 124 employees.
Mazda’s cut of 55 jobs was the second-largest staff reduction on the list. Canon reported 64 fewer jobs at its OC operations this year, a 7% drop.
No. 17 Weber Aircraft downsized 9% in OC because airplane purchasing is down, said Jeff King of the marketing department. Weber makes aircraft items like galleys (kitchens), 737 boarding ladders and lavatories. Its largest clients are Delta and Boeing.
No. 27 Pilkington Aerospace Inc. also decreased its ranks by 12%. It makes aircraft transparencies.
Telecommunications equipment supplier Ericsson lost 50 employees due to its divestiture of PRS (private radio systems) and Cyber Genie, a wireless systems company. Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan said those 50 employees are still employed with the spinoffs, and Ericsson holds minority stakes in those companies, as well. It divested to focus on its core business, Egan said.
Companies where employment remained static are: No. 32 American Suzuki Motor, No. 32 Winchell’s Donut House, No. 25 Interplay Entertainment Corp. and No. 1 Toshiba.
The first 10 spots shifted a bit from last year. Toshiba maintained its No. 1 position by a large margin, with 2,495 employees. But No. 2 AirTouch Cellular is new to the list,it was acquired last year by Vodafone of Newbury, England,with 1,973 OC employees. Mitsubishi, like last year, is No. 3; it decreased 2% to 1,507 employees. German-owned B. Braun, which was No. 2 last year, is No. 4 this year. Experian, Ricoh Electronics Inc., Canon and Yamaha all were pushed down list one notch by AirTouch, to Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, respectively.
MGE UPS Systems stormed up the list from No. 19 to the No. 9 position. This and AirTouch’s debut pushed Union Bank of California, whose parent is in Tokyo, to No. 10 from No. 8 last year, even though its local employment rose 4% to 700.
Kingston Technology Co. dropped off this year’s list because the company bought back its stock from Tokyo-owned Softbank Corp. MBK Real Estate also moved off the list because it sold off its senior-living division, reducing its OC staff from 525 to 200.
In addition to AirTouch Cellular, other companies new to the list are: No. 12 Panasonic, No. 24 Interplay Entertainment Corp., a software company; Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co; Nobel Biocare USA, a dental implant maker and American Suzuki Motor, a motorcycle company. n
